A small step, really…but a very important one.
Make sure you’re ready to respond to tenders, before you start doing so. It sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to lose track of what you’re responding to and when it’s due. If you have multiple people working on a response, or have several responses on the go at once, it gets even harder.
Much like buses, you might find nothing suitable is listed for weeks, and then suddenly 5 good opportunities come along at once, with similar deadlines, and you need to fit them in around your existing work commitments.
So what’s important to consider? There’s some key dates and events you should make a note of:
This sounds like an obvious one at first, but you’ll be surprised how easy it is to forget. It’s also super easy to get the day right, miss that it’s due at 11am, not 5pm, and miss the deadline for a proposal you’ve collectively spent days on. So keep the due date obvious.
It’s 2024, and virtually all proposals are submitted digitally. That’s not to say a client won’t throw a curveball and ask for printed submissions. Double check, because if nothing else a printed submission removes a couple of days from the deadline if you have to post it, and ensure it arrives on time. I have, in times gone last, seen printed proposals due by 9am on a Monday morning, which meant we actually had to have it in the post on Wednesday or Thursday of the week before, to ensure it arrived by Friday – removing nearly a working week from the deadline.
Sometimes, the best opportunities in the world can turn to the worst when someone asks a question and the answer completely changes your approach (usually, it will be around preferred technologies, or materials to be used etc.). Some people believe you should always ask questions, to ‘introduce yourself’ to the client and demonstrate your dominance. Personally I only ask if I actually have something I want to clarify.
But you can’t clarify anything if you missed the deadline for asking questions, so check it and make a note.
These tend to move a lot, and often come with some flexibility…but if you can’t make those dates work, then any effort you put into your proposal is wasted. It’s just another of those things that can ruin an otherwise good opportunity for you, and could easily have been avoided.
Writing proposals can be a time-consuming process, so the more effort you put up-front into getting yourself ready, the easier you’ll find it. Whilst each proposal is a unique document, a lot of the content that goes into it is highly repeatable – client logos and screenshots of websites , photos and diagrams of products are all reusable and you’ll save yourself literal hours by putting them all in a well organised folder, ready for quick access.
Likewise, a well-designed set of document templates, with basic structure already in place means you can start writing immediately.
A simple timeline for your proposal, that gives you realistic targets to hit in the days or weeks leading up to a submission deadline, means you can be sure to ask the questions you need to, and write your basic and final drafts, without it all being a panic at the last minute. Something you can write over a few days around your other commitments, with time to review, clarify and improve, will always – obviously – be better than something you smash out in three hours 50 minutes, starting four hours before the deadline.
And of course – before you start writing, make sure you’ve answered all of your questions, planned your response out, and understand what it is you’re about to sell to the client.
The more effort you put into organising your overall tender responding activities, and prep for each document you need to write, the easier the whole process will be.
